Have the Tigers been figured out? Sanderson's worry with Richmond's brand (SEN)

[one-eyed]

HAVE THE TIGERS BEEN FIGURED OUT? SANDERSON'S WORRY WITH RICHMOND'S BRAND

By Seb Mottram
SEN
6 April 2023

Brenton Sanderson believes Richmond’s brand is starting to be dismantled by teams who have figured out how to break down the Tigers to start 2023.

Damien Hardwick’s side finds themselves at minor crossroads ahead of Round 4. After a number of up-and-down performances to start the season, the footy world should have a much better idea about how the most successful team of the last six years sits in 2023 after Round 4.

However, former AFL coach Sanderson doesn’t hold high hopes for the Tigers for two reasons.

Firstly, he suggested that after the club’s dominance in recent years, they’re starting to be figured out.

“They had that really good game against Adelaide when they scored 17 goals. But the other two games, the draw and the loss, seven goals and eight goals in total,” Sanderson told SEN’s Whateley.

“Richmond have always been a really high-scoring side, they take the ball forward. It just feels like sides are starting to work them out a little bit.

“I take you back to earlier in the year… Chris Scott said they felt like they worked out the blueprint to beat Richmond.

“If Chris Scott knows that, I’m guessing the other clubs have picked up a thread there to follow.”

Sanderson also highlighted an alarming statistic that shows where Richmond's brand is at.

After three rounds, the Tigers are 13th in the competition for tackles inside 50, while they've also had a major drop off in inside 50s.

“What Richmond have relied upon so much in their dominating years have been their forward pressure, which creates turnovers to score the other way. I’ve always said… that your best offence comes on the back of your great defence, and at the moment we’re not seeing the forward half pressure that Richmond has been so reliable to produce year after year,” Sanderson said.

“After three games the players that lead their forward 50 tackles: (Jack) Riewoldt with six, (Shai) Bolton with five, (Jack) Graham with three, (Tim) Taranto three, (Maurice) Rioli two, (Toby) Nankervis two. That’s it, they’re just not getting those players compressing the ground, proving that forward-half pressure that results in goals going back the other way.

“If I’m Damien Hardwick this week, to beat the Bulldogs, if we’re going to score more, we’ve got to provide more pressure in our forward 50, as crazy as that sounds.

“Our forwards are going to have to get better looks to score on the back of our great front-half defence.”

Hardwick faces a tricky trio of games coming up, with Richmond facing off against the Bulldogs, Melbourne and Sydney in consecutive weeks.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/04/06/have-the-tigers-been-figured-out-sandersons-worry-with-richmonds-brand/

[Knighter]

Bullfrogs is a must win game.  Sidney and the Shemons have had the wood over us in recent years

[pmac21]

Any team that can get numbers back in defensive 50 who can rebound quickly will beat us most times as we simply bomb the ball inside 50.  Until we fix the delivery inside 50 we will be a middle of the road team.

[mightytiges]

It's only round 3. We were 1-2 after three rounds in 2019 and had just suffered back-to-back 8 goal losses for instance. We've been off with the ball so far but we're still 1-1-1 with a decent %. The next 4 weeks will give us a better guide.
 
ps. the Stand rule encourages teams to flood their D50 to defend. Unless there's a shootout with little defence or a lopsided contest again with little defence from the weaker team, scoring will be lower. Just three clubs reached the ton last weekend and one of those was Freo against the Eagles who were running out of non-injured players. Just a SHocking rule  . 

[Broadsword]

Pretty easy to figure out an opposition team: just get your man inside AFL House and have him change the rules to undermine the opposition's strategy. After that simply pepper the media with the idea that some innovative strategic breakthrough was behind the turnaround.